


The Ghost Spartan

by CyclonicJet



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 20:37:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyclonicJet/pseuds/CyclonicJet
Summary: What if Noble Six had survived after seeing the Autumn safely off Reach? What if he had managed to escape the ruins of Asźod? That sounded like a fun question to me. One that begged an answer. So I started writing. And before I knew I was 7000 words deep and counting. So I thought I'd share it with you all!





	1. Chapter 1

Noble six clung close to the shadows, letting the many folds of darkness drown him whole in there embrace. He watched the scene below with a silent intensity. “Find the demon!” roared the elite commander. “It can not have scurried off far!”

At his words the collection of elite squads assembled around him dispersed and vanished into the ash covered wasteland. Six turned his gaze skyward. Orange flames licked at withered clouds. They were the last gasping breath of a dying world. Reach was doomed. Maybe humanity was also. But that was no reason to give up. To just roll over and let the covenant extinguish humanity's hard won civilisation. There was still a fight to be had. A war to be won. What he needed to do now was find a way to rejoin that fight. It was his duty.

He looked back down at the field commander stalking amongst the wreckage of countless broken ships. He was scouring them, searching each broken piece in turn. He was hunting for him amongst the debris.

Six shifted his weight slightly, providing a firmer stance with which to hold his sniper rifle. The gangway groaned slightly as he shifted, but the exposed remains of the frigates superstructure surrounding him served to dampen the noise into silence. He had chosen his hiding place well.

He hefted the rifle and placed the elites head in the centre of his scope. He tracked him as he stalked. The overly proud warrior had dispersed all his forces amongst the shipyards, leaving none to guard him. He was completely alone. Six twitched his finger towards the trigger, ready to bury a hole in the elites skull. The commander stopped and stared around, his energy sword crackling in his hands. Six prepared to fire, his finger clutching more tightly on the trigger. Then a wave of hesitation struck him.

The death of one elite, even a commander, was not particularly helpful in the grand scheme of this war. If he pulled the trigger it would alert every squad in the area to his location, he’d never be able to shoot his way out against odds like that. The elite still stood there, scanning the horizon for something unseen. Six spent a moment longer looking down the scope at him before relaxing his grip on the trigger. The commander would get to live another day, but so would he. Only time would tell which one of them would prove more decisive when this war finally ended.

* * *

The commander finally broke his thousand yard stare and silently stalked off into the hazy gloom, the shifting dust shrouding and enveloping him whole. Six scanned the area again. No hostiles. He began moving down the catwalk, carefully avoiding places where slices in the hull allowed sunlight to cut through and expose him. He approached a long cable that would once have served as a power cord of some kind. It dangled down a long shaft where an elevator would have once been mounted. Taking a firm grip on it with one hand, he slid slowly down its length until his boots hit dirt.

Dust had trailed its way into the ships remains, and now a fine coating covered every surface where the ship lay physically buried into Reach itself. He ghosted his way through the superstructure, keeping the sound of his footsteps as silent as possible. He approached a great cleave in the back of the ships fuselage. Clearly the mark of plasma damage from some prior engagement with the covenant. He cast a careful look through the gap. 

A small group of covenant milled about the area. A half dozen or so grunts swaddled around the legs of the much larger squad of two elites and three brutes that patrolled the area. Six retracted back and tried to order his thoughts. He needed transportation. A way off of Reach. It was only a matter of time before even the elites grew weary of chasing the glory of killing a ‘demon’. Then they would simply begin glassing the area.

He couldn’t engage them openly, not without attracting undue attention. But his options were limited. He’d be exposed no matter what direction he bolted for. An easy mark. Even the hulking remains of the frigate only offered protection so long as none of them knew he was there. The sound of arguing wafted through the gap. He tuned in astutely to what was being said.

“The dropship will be here in fifteen minutes!” one of the elites spat at the brutes. “You have until then to find the demon!”

The largest brute stepped forward. “Do not bark orders to us Sanghelli! We will achieve what your incompetence can not!”

The other elite bristled at the comment and made to move forward, but his companion placed an arm over his chest.

“Calm yourself Aram. I have every confidence the brutes will do there job.” It was difficult to read Sanghelli expressions, but Six thought he saw the ghost of a smile break apart on its mandibles.

“Because should they fail, they are as like to find that the dropship will be unable to accommodate them.” The other elite broke into a ‘smile’ as well. “Then they can atone for their failure by being cleansed along with the demon.”

The brutes roared angrily at that. “Do not worry though,” the Sanghelli continued, “there will be ample room for the Unggoy. So you need not worry for their safety.”

Six was convinced the murder in the brute leaders eyes was going to pour forth in a torrent of rage. Instead the brute raised his head and roared loudly into the air. He turned and pounded away into the smoking wasteland, his two companions close at his back. Fifteen minutes. Then there would be a dropship. A way out. If he could find a way to commandeer it.

The sound of orders being given followed swiftly on the heels of the departed brutes. “If you grunts also wish to be aboard that dropship then I advise you continue you your search as well.” There was a pause. “That human ship over there. Make sure the demon does not lurk amongst its corpse.”

Six watched as the squad of unggoy began a mad dash towards his hiding place. He turned and raced silently through the superstructure, searching for the darkest corner he could find. He ducked inside a service tunnel and clambered up an exposed ventilation shaft. In his armour he was too bulky to enter the vents, but could just about manage to cling to the slightly wider entrance.

Then he waited. Thirteen minutes till the dropship arrived. He dimmed and lowered his shields. The faint light produced by the emitters would have been more than enough to spot him in the gloom. Six full minutes trundled by with little to make note of. Then he heard the rustling of feet. A high pitched sniffing noise cut the air as he watched one of the grunts pass beneath him. Its leg pressed down on a loose sheet of metal, which groaned loudly accordingly.

The grunt jumped and turned to look this way and that in the darkness. The light of its charged plasma pistol casting the corridor in a sickly green light. After a few moments it seemed to realise what had happened and promptly lowered its weapon. “Why does Yab-Nab get stuck with the nasty dark places.” it muttered. It trundled back the way it had come. “No demons down here at least.”

It disappeared back into the shadows. Six waited half a minute before lowering himself back onto the deck. Then carefully began manoeuvring his way back towards the cleave in the ships hull. Three minutes till the dropship was due. All the grunts had seemingly removed themselves from the derelict vessel. He encountered no opposition as he traversed the ship.

He reached the gap and carefully peeked around it. The grunts were milling around the area, looking like they were pretending very hard to be searching the debris field. The elites stood silently supervising. Two minutes. The sound of heavy footsteps approaching drew their collective attention. Out of the ashy fog emerged the brutes.

“Ah. They somehow managed not to get lost in the fog.” said the lead elite. “A laudable achievement for ones so dim.”

The brutes pounded their way up to the elites and drew themselves up tall.

“So." barked the elite. "Does the demon lie dead?”

The brute chieftain gave a feral grin. He hefted a helmet up in his oversized hand for the elite to inspect. It was quite clearly Emile’s helmet. Six’s eyes narrowed instinctively. As a rule he was not an emotional person, locking it down better than even most of his fellow Spartans. But the sight of the fallen warriors helmet, grasped in the paws of the lumbering brute, sparked a fire inside him.

The elite examined it. “Impressive.” he said. “However, this is the wrong demon.”

The brute grunted. “You told us to hunt the demon. We have delivered you a trophy as a testament to its fall. You-“

“The demon we hunt,” the elite said lifting a small projector in his hand, “looks like this.” A small holographic representation of Six appeared in his hand. “Notice the difference? Or are you incapable of basic delineation?”

The brute growled. It crushed Emile’s helmet and tossed it aside. “We will be aboard that phantom!” he growled threateningly.

The elite laughed. “Not so long as I draw breath you will not.”

The brute raised his mauler. “Then we will need to correct that.”

The elites eyes flashed as he dove sideways to avoid the shot. He rolled and popped back up, energy sword cracklings in his hand. “Savages!” he bellowed. The elite charged the brute and swung at him. The brute dodged and punched back. Six watched as the scene dissolved into chaos. The two remaining brutes rounded on the other elite, who in turn drew his own sword. The grunts, seemingly terrified to get involved, hid amongst the wreckage.

Six spared a look at his fallen comrades helmet. Emile had deserved better than this. He deserved respect for how bitterly he had fought, right up unto his final breath. But in this war there was no such thing as the luxury of respect or honour. There was simply those who fell, and those who lived.

* * *

The whine of engines cut loudly over the melee. A phantom dropship appeared over the top of the frigates wreckage. It droned around above the area for a moment before coming to a halt someway between himself and the ensuing brawl. A purple beam pulsed from the phantom and three elites dropped down through it.

“What is the meaning of this!?” roared the commander as he touched the ground. He and one of his companions jogged towards the brawlers.

The other elite stood guard at the base of the lift, targeting his carbine at the brutes. The original two Sanghelli disengaged from the brutes and backed off. The brutes simply glowered at all of them.

Six found watching the internal power dynamics of the covenant, now on full display in front of him, interesting, but not important. What was important was the exposed phantom in front of him. Lightly guarded as it was, he was sure he could reach it before any of them knew he was even there.

The elite left to ward it wasn’t even looking in the right direction. All he needed to be was fast and silent. Some of his finer talents as it was already. He watched intently. Waiting for his opportunity.

“You have attacked your officer!” barked the Sangheili commander. “You will be punished as such! Kneel and your deaths will be swift! Or stand and be branded a heretic!”

The two smaller brutes seemed to hesitate, wracked with apparent indecision. It was not so for the largest. “I will not be forsaken to die on this pathetic rock!”

That seemed to stiffen the backs of the other two brutes, who promptly reared and roared in fury. “I challenge you for command!” the brute captain yelled.

“This is not one of your feral beast packs.” the commander spat. “Command flows from the prophets! And they will never place canon fodder like you in command!”

“Enough talk!” he said. “Face me or be deemed a coward!”

That clearly got under the Sanghellis skin. He cracked his energy sword to life. “I will make this swift.” he stated bluntly.

The brute grinned and chucked his weapon aside. “I need no weapon to kill you!” The two charged at each other.

Six knew it was time. All eyes were completely focused on the remarkable and inexplicable duel occurring before them. He pulled his knife and rounded the corner. Activating his sprint functionality he dashed out from his cover and ran swiftly towards the distracted guard. The servos in his armour worked hard to boost his speed as high as they did. He closed the distance just as the overheat cut off kicked in.

Six lodged the knife into the elites head. It had never even known he was there. The elite crumpled to the floor in silence. Six spared a quick glance towards the duel. As he expected, none of them had noticed him. The Elite commander and Brute chieftain were wrapped around each other in the dirt. The brute lay on top delivering fierce hammer blows to the elite. At some point the Sanghelli had lost his blade.

Six gave it no more thought and plunged into the still active gravity lift. The smoggy landscape of Reach vanished, replaced by the shadowy interior of the dropship. It was empty. The commander had clearly believed it safe enough to abandon completely. Rushing to the cockpit, he began playing with the controls. Unfamiliar and strange symbols flashed at him. He tapped one of the blinking glyphs and the vehicle promptly rocketed forward.

Six pressed more blinking icons in rapid succession, taking mental note of what each one did. He tapped one that wasn’t blinking and an external view appeared before him. He had managed to glide several hundred feet forward. A rear view holographic display showed the horde of unggoy chasing madly after the vessel. The elites and brutes had descended into a totally self absorbed blood letting. One brute lay dead, as did two Sanghelli.

Six returned his focus forward and pressed the icon he was now pretty sure meant elevate. The phantom promptly shot up into the atmosphere. He tapped the icon for forward thrust and again the vessel obliged, now moving up and away from Reach. He settled down into the uncomfortable seat and began steering away from the dying world below.


	2. Chapter 2

Six stared out at the curve of Reach as the phantom slowly pulled away from it. He was now breaking the atmosphere and fast approaching orbit. But he still had no idea what to do next.

Typically he would have aimed to link up with friendly forces. But looking at the burning world below he wasn’t so sure there were any left. The phantom had no means of entering slipspace itself, and what remained of the legendary Epsilon Eridani Fleet now lay in scattered broken pieces, drifting silently around the planet. He would find no escape up here.

He looked back down at the planet. Memories of his fallen teammates came to him unbidden. A flicker of anger flared within him again, but was quickly quenched by a realisation. There was at least one friendly unit still alive down there. Or at least he desperately hoped they were. He changed course, angling the vessel down and towards the one place on the planet that didn’t appear to be on fire. Castle Base. 

* * *

As he approached to within a few dozen kilometres of the mountain fortress, he decided he was now close enough to set off an extremely risky ping. He tapped at the tacpad attached to his wrist and issued a short range beacon. He only allowed it to chirp for five seconds before killing the signal. The signal itself was nearly totally meaningless, unless you just so happened to be a very specific type of person. The kind of specific that required one to have been transformed into a superhuman soldier to understand.

Minutes passed as he continued to close towards the base. Covenant activity was growing increasingly dense in the skies above the area. He was now growing hesitant to draw any closer, lest any of them try to hail them. His tacpad suddenly chirped at him as it received a transmission. A simple six beat tone. He let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks George.” he murmured. Without him he would likely have never have been able to locate Jun.

* * *

The phantom drifted towards the source of the burst pulse. A location some miles distant from Castle Base proper, it was a small outpost built into the side of a cliff. There was significantly less air traffic buzzing above the site. The outpost itself bore clear scars where the covenant had blasted it apart and stormed in. The place looked deserted. No signs of life anywhere. But this was definitely the location Jun had pinged him from. He began a descent towards it.

As he floated into the hanger bay, carved out of the mountainside itself, he gazed through the monitors at the battle torn room. The place was littered with plasma scars and bullet holes. Dead humans and covenant lay scattered everywhere. The site of a truly grizzly defence.

The phantom drifted to a stop. Nothing in the hanger moved. Six activated the grav lift and hovered down to the floor. Still the room remained motionless. He tapped his tacpad again. The six note tone played over the speaker, bouncing off the pitted steel plates of the hanger. No response. Jun must have been elsewhere in the outpost. Six spent a moment longer examining the room, then walked to the broken hanger door.

Beyond its threshold, the light of Reach’s star could not touch. It was pitch black in the corridor before him. Six didn't hesitate. He activated his night vision and stepped forward, allowing himself to be swallowed whole by the shadows.

* * *

Time swiftly lost all meaning in the labyrinth of darkened corridors. Without power the outpost may as well have been in deep space for all he could have been able to tell. He stalked silently from room to room. The place may have seemed deserted, but anything could have been lurking in the gloom.

After some time searching he stumbled upon what he assumed had once been the command centre. He scanned the room. Strange. There were no bodies in here, human or covenant. There were blood splatters all over the place though, so there had been a fight here at some point. So where had the bodies gone?

His gaze swept fell over a bulkhead adjacent to him. As his eyes moved on from it, he noticed a flicker of movement in the corner of his eye. He snapped back to the bulkhead and lifted his rifle. The tell tale shimmer of active camouflage dropped to reveal Jun wedged inside the buttress, his sniper pointed at Six’s head.

“Six?” he said. “That you? Sure looks like you.”

He nodded and lowered his weapon. He tapped his tacpad. The six note tone played again to the empty room. Jun lowered his sniper. “I see you managed to make it out of Asźod then.” He disentangled himself from the strut and jumped back onto the ground. “And the others?”

Six simply shook his head. Jun sighed. “Blasted covenant.” he muttered.

“What happened to Halsey?” Six asked.

Jun seemed to stare off into the distance at the question. “Secured inside Castle Base.” he said somewhat flatly.

Six waited a beat to see if he would elaborate, but Jun seemed disinclined to share more than that. He changed the subject. “How’d you end up here?”

Jun refocused on him. “Needed a new position. Don’t know if you noticed on your way here, but the Covenant kind of own the skies around here. The ground too. Moving out in the open is a risky gambit at best at the moment. At least here I can bunker down and think in peace.”

Six nodded in acknowledgement. “So. What’s the plan?”

Jun sighed again and shook his head. “The plan?” He walked over to the middle of the room. He pressed down on a table located there and a holographic display of the planet began hovering above it. “The plan is finding a way of this planet. Preferably still alive.”

Six walked over and stared at the projection. “It’s a good plan. Any ideas on how to execute it?”

Jun stalked around the table, staring at the virtual planet. “So far? No. But I’m open to suggestions.”

“I commandeered a phantom on my way here.” said Six. “No slip-space capability, but if gives us options.”

Jun lowered his head and considered it. “Options are the one thing we lack. The fleet above is gone. If there are any ships left in system they’ve gone to ground. That means we have no all access pass out of here. So we’re going to have to get creative.”

He tapped the table again and the image zoomed in to a topographical map of the area around castle base. “Notice how the covenant haven’t scorched this section of the planet?”

Six nodded. “It’s rather distinctive from orbit.”

“Right. Why they haven’t I can’t say. But it affords us an opportunity. And if we factor your re-appropriated phantom into the equation, then maybe we have a chance.”

“What are you thinking?” Six asked.

“That we try something daring. We have a way off this planet. Now we need a way out of this system.” He tapped the table again. The image shifted to focus on a lone covenant corvette, hanging out around the perimeter of the zone surrounding castle base. “We need to acquisition a new mode of transportation.” 

* * *

Six stared at the floating projection of the corvette. “You think a two man Fireteam can seize a covenant vessel alone?”

“No.” Jun said. “I believe that two Spartans can seize a covenant vessel alone.” He altered the projection. It now showed a sped up time lapse of the last seventy eight hours. “They’ve been busy as you can see.”

Six watched as significant numbers of covenant forces and vehicles were unloaded from the vessel. It had taken them the better part of three days, but the ship was now most probably emptied. Only a skeleton crew likely remained.

“They began moving those forces about five hours ago. Moving to link up with other deployed units. But while they move on castle base, I say we move on them.”

Six stopped and pondered for a moment. Jun was right. This plan was daring. Audacious even. But as he had said, their options were limited. They’d never make out of the system without a slipspace drive of some kind. But the risk was enormous. If any one thing went wrong then they’d both be dead before they even knew it. “Are there any alternatives?”

Jun pressed a button. “Dozens. Hundreds.” The image shifted and now showed a multitude of simulated scenarios. “All of them probably end with us dead. Honestly Six, before you showed up I was considering just hunkering down as my best option. Wait for the covenant to move on and then crawl out of the ashes.”

He turned to face him. “But now the situation has changed. We have a way of reaching that corvette undetected, and between the two of us enough firepower to commandeer it.”

“And when it squawks for aid?”

“That where these come in.” The hologram shifted to show what looked like a collection of eight or so large drums. “Military grade jamming equipment. We deploy these in the area around the ship first, then we hit it while its beak is sealed shut.”

“What’s our timeframe here? How long is it going to sit there?”

“Unknown. It might wait until whatever operation the covenant are performing is completed. Or it might bug out in the next five minutes. No way of knowing.”

Six thought for a moment. “If this goes sideways...”

“Then we fall back on plan A. Hunker down and wait for a better opportunity.”

Six thought that sounded a little optimistic. But perhaps that kind of optimism is exactly what they needed right now. “Alright. Let’s give it a try. How are we going to do this?”


	3. Chapter 3

Six lowered the heavy drum like jammer down into place. No ordinary human could have lifted it. Indeed, if not for his armour neither would he. He twisted it so that it was wedged firmly into the soil. Then he proceeded to coat it in loose foliage to better hide it. It ultimately didn’t do much to help disguise it, but it was better than nothing.

“Jammer in position.” he called over the radio.

“Good. That’s the last of them.” Jun responded. It had taken them almost twenty hours, but between them they had managed to create a rough circle out of the jammers. Forming a loose faraday cage around the corvette.

It had been tough. Hauling the heavy devices through enemy territory. Avoiding covenant patrols. Trying to find brief periods in which to sleep. But it was done. Now the real work could begin.

“Meet me back at the outpost. I think I’m nearly done preparing the dropship.”

“Copy that.” Six replied. He made one last inspection of the jammer before turning around and stalking back through the forest. The trees were eerily quiet. Nothing but the wind stirring them.

The usual rustle of animals was completely absent. It was unnatural. Six thought that perhaps the greatest forgotten tragedy of this war was the number of species that had simply vanished from the galaxy. Wiped out by the ceaseless glassing operations of the covenant. A nearly unrivalled extinction event being repeated from planet to planet, world to world.

His wandering mind was abruptly snapped back to attention at the sight of movement ahead. He immediately killed his run and took shelter behind a tree.

A squad of jackals roamed the forest floor. Six lay low as they passed. He instinctively held his breath, despite the fact he knew his helmet masked the noise. As the last jackal passed, it suddenly stopped and sniffed at the air. The jackal in front of it stopped to stare at its stalled comrade. “Smell something?” it whispered in the shrill high voice of a jackal.

“Maybe. I’m not sure.” It twisted this way and that, searching for unseen prey. It seemed to zone in on Six’s location. “Over there.” it whispered.

The kig-yar began to advance on his position. Six crouched down behind his cover and mentally counted the aliens steps. He waited patiently as the sound drew closer and closer. As it closed to being nearly on top of him, so close that he could the jackals breath, he activated his camo unit. 

He vanished just as the jackal peered out from behind the tree. He looked in confusion at the empty space. Six sat stone cold still, offering no chance for the camo unit to shimmer in the air. A long moment passed. The jackal made to walk towards him, to stand where he lay. But it abruptly halted as it received a whack to the back of the head from its fellow kig-yar. “Idiot!” its voice shrilled. “You waste my time with nonsense. Let us move quickly before the pack abandons us.”

The jackal that has managed to sniff him out gave one last hiss of either annoyance, or maybe confusion, before turning and shirking away.

Six remained crouched and stealthed. Patiently awaiting the sound of there footsteps to recede into the distance. Only once he was certain he could no longer hear them did he uncloak. Standing back up he peeked around the corner. The forest was silent and still once more. He ducked out from behind his cover and took up a new sprint through the trees.

* * *

Jun clacked a fresh clip into his rifle and turned the weapon over for inspection. “Don’t want any jams on this mission.” he muttered.

Six also inspected his weapons. A fully loaded assault rifle. A DMR magnetically strapped to his back. A pistol holstered to his leg. Two grenades hanging from his belt. And last but not least, a collection of thermobaric explosives slung over his shoulder.

“Everything ready?” he asked.

“Almost.” Jun said. “One last thing to do.” He finished inspecting his rifle and locked it against his back. He wandered over to a control panel and worked a few buttons. 

“There.” he said. “Now the jamming relay is primed. We give the signal and pop. Dead zone for up to twenty miles.”

Six nodded approvingly. Jun walked back towards him. “And hey. If it all goes sideways, we can just do what Spartans do best. Go out in a blaze of glory.” The slight sarcasm in his voice was unmissable.

Jun walked passed him, gave him a pat on the shoulder, and stepped into the phantoms grav lift. He flew up and vanished inside. Six took one last look around the hanger before stepping in after him.

* * *

The dropship glided slowly towards the corvette. A casual relaxed pace, offering no reason to draw any undue attention. “You know they’ll hail us.” Six said.

“Yes. I’m sure they will.” Jun said. He lifted the trigger for the jamming network. “And that will be our cue.”

The dropship drifted closer, now clearly angling for the hanger bay. A burst of Sangheili cut over the phantoms comm channel. While Six couldn’t understand it, he thought the voice sounded more probative then anything else. But before the alien could finish whatever he was saying, Jun clicked the trigger. The voice cut out and the line went dead.

The dropship jerked slightly as it transitioned through the hanger shield and into the vessel proper. Six drifted it over the middle of the room as he watched the few forces stationed in the hanger turn a cautious eye at the dropship.

“Well. We’re in." Six said. “What step two?”

Jun reached over him and tapped the control for the grav lift. “Step two is the fun part.” he said. He walked over to the lift and pulled a powerful looking flash grenade from a hard pack on his leg. “Be ready on those gun Six.”

He pulled the trigger on it and tossed it into the lift. A quiet moment passed, and then all hell broke loose. The flash bang exploded and the hanger was bathed in wash of radiant light. Jun leapt down into the lift, sniper ready.

The cracking sound of the rifle filled the room as Six activated the phantoms main gun. He began picking targets. It had taken the two of them awhile to work out how to get the weapon working. But with just two new holes in the outposts hangar bay to show for there efforts, they had managed to get the hang of it.

The first hostile he targeted was an Elite. Crouched over and still clearly blind from the flash. It took one blast from the canon to reduce him to a molten mess of flesh and metal. Then six picked another target, a jackal blinking wildly as it tried to draw a bead on Jun with its own rifle.

Six blasted the creature and then moved to a new target. He began a process of methodically picking them off one by one. For every blast of plasma he dished out, there were two cracks of Jun’s rifle. As what remained of the covenant forces began to scatter, running wildly and still half blind for the doors, Six received a burst transmission from Jun. “Heading for there comms relay! Keep them busy till I get back!” Then the comm channel went abruptly dead again.

As Six turned to pick a new target he found to his surprise the room was now empty of threats. What covenant had survived had managed to successfully flee the shooting gallery the hanger had become. He shifted the phantom around to face toward the bridge. If any reinforcements were coming, then they would be coming from there. Then Six waited, his hand primed on the trigger. He was prepared for anything the covenant might throw at them.

But nothing came. Time ticked by, but no more covenant showed themselves. The communication jam on his helmet suddenly ceased. Jun came onto the radio. “Comms relay secured Six. I’ve locked down all communications to and from the ship. They won’t be calling anyone for aid now.”

“Copy that. Waiting on you at the dropship.”

“Acknowledged.” he said. “Be there in a flash.”

* * *

Jun pressed himself up against the side of the door. Six took the other side. “So weapons and then bridge aye?” Jun asked.

“So far as memory serves.” Six replied.

“Then let's hope it serves you well.” Jun looked at the sealed door. "They’ll have likely set up ambushes ahead.”

“Probably. We’ll just have to cut through them. If they find a work around the communication lockout from the bridge before we get there then-“

“Then we get there before that happens.” Jun said over him. Six nodded in response.

The two of them stared at the flickering hologram before them. Stood static on the door threshold it was a remarkable likeness of Six himself. “Ready?” Jun asked.

“Pop it.” Six replied. Jun tapped the door release mechanism and the curved faces that formed it slid elegantly back into the wall.

A half beat of a moment passed before a torrent of plasma fire tore at the hologram. “Predictable.” Jun muttered over there direct comm line.

As the hologram flashed and then vanished under the disruptive fire, Six lobbed another flash grenade into the corridor beyond. A split second later and the hall was filled with a blinding light. The two of them turned and began firing down the corridor. There DMR's fired round after round, until they both clacked empty.

The motley collection of grunts, skirmishers, and elites all lay dead on the floor. Only one elite still seemed alive, his body twitching slightly on the ground. Six switched to his assault rifle as both Spartans proceeded with caution through the door way. As they moved passed the elite, Jun pumped a single bullet into it head. It stopped twitching. “Take point Six. You know the way.”

Six nodded and walked in front. They came to a small intersection of doors, but from his time executing Operation Uppercut he knew exactly which way to go. He walked straight through the central door and down the sloped ramp beyond. As they approached the door at the end it slid open of its own accord.

“Go see if they have finished dealing with the demons yet-“ an elite barked at a pack of Unggoy. He abruptly stopped as he looked up to see the two Spartans. He roared loudly, whether in fear or fury Six wasn’t sure. He wasn’t about to wait to find out.

He pulled the trigger and lit up the elites shields, which flared wildly under the barrage. As they crackled and broke his rifle clacked empty. A single shot burst through the elites head as Jun finished it off. Then Jun turned his DMR on the grunts while Six reloaded. The small aliens had panicked and broken at the sight of them. The two Spartans made short work of them.

Chasing the stragglers into the weapon bay proper, Six could see the ship was now moving through the translucent shielding. The vessel was angling up and away from the planet. “That can’t be good.” Jun commented.

They crossed the room and cycled the next door open. Six was about to move forwards when he just about caught the telltale shimmer of a stealthed elite in front of him. He dodged as it swung an invisible sword at him. Jun open fired into another invisible elite beside him.

Six didn’t allow the elite to recover from its swing. Lunging forward, he struck the elite and knocked the hidden enemy over onto the ground. As it struck the deck below the camo unit failed and it appeared before him. It bore the armour of the ships commander.

Six levelled his gun to fire, but the elite swiped him off his feet using its own monstrous legs. He hit the ground and lost the grip on his rifle. The elite jumped back to its feet and moved to stab at him. Six rolled out of the way. The blade cut into the deck and melted alien metal sizzled where it struck.

The elite roared and rounded on him. Six drew his pistol and began crawling backward, dumping the entire clip into its shields. They crackled but didn’t break. It moved on him and sliced down. An arm appeared between the blade and Six. Jun has thrust It between them and activated an armour lock down. His shield became overcharged and unbreakable. The energy sword ricocheted harmlessly away as the shielded arm repulsed it.

The elite staggered back, and Six leapt forward. Drawing his knife he stabbed it into the side of the elites head. The Sanghelli wobbled, groping at the blade with its hands. Six ripped a grenade from his belt, thrust it into a cleave in the elites ornate armour, and then kicked it hard back through the door which promptly cycled shut as Jun hit the control switch. A second later there was a dull thud from the other side of the door and then silence.

Jun cycled the door back open. A grisly sight greeted them. Alien viscera was tossed everywhere, blood dripping fresh from the walls. A half armoured stump lay toppled over where the lower half of the elite commander had once stood.

“Even uglier than usual.” Jun said. “If that’s even possible.”

“Come on.” Six said. “Nearly there!” The two of them set off at a sprint through the winding corridor ahead.

* * *

The door to the command bridge slid open and the two Spartan barged through, weapons raised, ready for anything. But the bridge appeared empty. There were no elites, no grunts, no anything. It looked deserted.

“Careful Six.” Jun whispered over the comm channel. “Eyes wide for camouflage. Watch your radar.”

They advanced slowly further into the room, splitting apart from one another after a short distance. Jun stalked left while Six moved right. He watched the air around, looking for any shimmering or distortion he could find. But there was nothing to spot. The radar pinged nothing and he could hear or see nothing either. The room really was empty.

“Anything Three?” he asked over comms.

“Negative.” Jun responded. “Place is empty.”

Six allowed himself to relax slightly, but remained alert for danger. He approached the control unit and stared at the icons. He could see the automated pilot unit was activated, but the rest of the controls were foreign to him.

During Uppercut it was Oni who had provided details on how to activate the autopilot. How they had obtained that information they had declined to share, as well as declining providing any other information on what the rest of the controls did or meant.

Jun walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. “You know how to fly this thing?” he asked.

“No.” Six said. “But I’m a fast learner.” He pressed the autopilot glyph and took control. Through the view port he could see they had reached orbit, and were now just hanging some distance away from a small Covenant fleet.

“Looks like they were trying to get close enough to call for help.” Jun commented.

“It may have worked.” Six said. He could see a catalogue of attempted hails from a multitude of different ships. But due to the communication lock down Jun had accomplished they had gone unanswered.

“They’re going to be getting jittery.” he said. “It won’t be long before they come to investigate.”

“Then we need to get out of here before that.” Jun said. “We need to activate the slipspace drive. Like right now.”

“Working on it.” Six muttered playing at the controls. He was trying to link patterns between the symbols and failing. Some of them were the same as on the phantom, but others were completely different. He decided to try the unfamiliar ones first. Since the dropship had no slipspace drive, it was unlikely it shared a glyph with the corvette for it.

He tapped two icons in quick succession and the ship bucked slightly. A display popped up, filled with more alien symbols. Oni had shared enough for him to know what these were. It was a countdown timer.

Behind them the large holographic display of the planet flickered and changed. Now it showed a representation of the ship and a number of strange looping arcs around it.

“I think I got it!” Six declared.

“I hope so.” Jun said. “Because we have company!”

Six looked up to see that a number of cruisers had broken formation and were now bearing towards them. “It won’t take them long to reach an intercept.” Jun said. “How long till we can bug out?”

Six checked the timer. “Two minutes.” He paused. “I think.”

“Oh good. That’s reassuring.”

Six worked at the controls, managing to realign the vessel, so that it now aimed toward the star speckled void of deep space. As the ship changed trajectory the curvature of the holographic looping arcs twisted and changed as well. Some bent until they folded in on themselves, while new ones unravelled out of nowhere to replace them.

An alert sounded as multiple dropships began falling away from the battle cruisers. “And here comes our guests. Can you seal the shields from here?”

“Maybe.” He tried some of the controls, but none yielded the results he was looking for. “But my gut says no.”

“Then I guess things are going to get messy.” Jun said moving for the corridor. “I’ll set up a little surprise for any of our friends that manage to get aboard.”

He disappeared into the corridor. Six checked the countdown timer again. Sixty seconds to go. New holograms appeared above the console. These he recognised instantly. They were stellar coordinates. It was asking him to pick a destination. He spent a second manipulating them so that the jump he selected would would place them somewhere between Reach and the next star system. A spatial dead zone. No one, human or covenant, ever bothered to travel to the empty places between stars. There was no point. That made it the perfect hiding place.

A new alert popped up. A covenant dropship was entering the hanger. “Our friends have arrived.” he called over the comm to Jun.

“Acknowledged. The gift is armed and ready. Making my way back to you.”

Six nodded to himself. They were almost out of here. A static field began to permeate the vessel as the charge in the slipspace drive began to reach its maximum capacity. He checked the clock again. Twenty seconds.

Yet another alert sounded. The energy weapons on the battlecruisers were charging up themselves now. Clearly the boarding party had relayed the scene of slaughter in the hanger bay back to their comrades aboard the cruisers. Between that and the slipspace jump the cruiser was initiating, someone had managed to put two and two together. Now whoever was in charge really didn’t want them to escape. Enough at least to destroy their own ship and kill there own soldiers.

Jun burst back through the door and raced over to him. “Six.” he cried looking at the alerts. “We need to get out of here now!”

Ten seconds. A ripple of energy ran down the length of the ship as it began slicing open a portal into slipspace. A bubble of of undulating black purple appeared before the ship, as the ships engines began automatically pushing it inside the warbling sphere.

A torrent of plasma lances blasted off the cruisers and bore down on the corvette. Five seconds. The lights dimmed as the shields were raked from all directions and flared wildly. They collapsed as the clock hit one second.

The corvette slipped inside the slipspace bubble and vanished.


End file.
